Hey everyone!

This week was a very good week. We had spent the last 2 doing a lot of contacts, but without a lot of success, and not a lot of people were listening to us. But, this week was way better because not only did we beat the goal of the mission of new investigators for the week, we did it in the best way possible, being that EVERY SINGLE ONE of the news were very interested in us, and a couple are ready to even receive some baptismal dates, going from not know what the church was to near-baptism-goal ready in 1 week. It might have been more common in Ian's mission, but here in Chile it is a little rare. When Elder Anderson of the 12 came here about a month ago now, he mentioned how the Chile Area, and the country, is starting to fall behind other Latin American countries, especially Argentina. When Dad served here, Chile was the promised land of Latin America, and now it's changed over to Peru and Argentina instead. So, that's why they sent me here. To return the title of Promised Land to it's proper owner.

Anyway, I don't think I've ever mentioned to you guys the most amazing video that exists here in Chile. The first missionaries to the country of Chile were 2 young men in 1956. So, in 2012, in honor of the coming of the 50 years of la Misión Chilena, the Santiago to Concepción area made a video called "Creemos"or "We Believe."There is a copy of it in ever missionary house, and it is the best thing ever. It goes through the Church History in Chile, from the times of the Book of Mormon, to Christopher Columbus, to the Wars for Independence, to Elder Parley P. Pratt's visit in the 1800s, to the opening of Chile as a mission in 1956, to the modern day. Imagine a Nauvoo pageant, but Chilean, and it is sooo amazing. Lots of jokes for the missionaries to talk about.

As for P___, it looks like he won't be able to get baptized on the week that we are planning, but he is making progress. We are finally able to focus on the rest of his family as well, which is nice. Supposedly they will be all going on a hiking trip to a nearby hill with the rest of the Young Men here. The YM president reminds me of Brother Holwege. I don't know why, but he just does. 

Speaking of which, the bishop here is amazing. He is a 5'5"short man, but with a huge heart and a disposition to work and be a friend to the missionaries. His name is Bishop Tasso. He also likes basketball, so he's told me how Portland has gotten pretty far this season. How cool is that?

I finally got through the 4 gospels in spanish. I'd been focusing more on the book of Mormon, of course, but learning about the pre-resurrection teachings of Christ are great as well. Though, I do fully understand the need of a restoration the more I read it in Spanish. My favortie bit is when Peter says "Lord, these things surely shouldn't pass"(talking of the future crucifixion and death of Christ) and as a response, the God of Love decides to say "Get behind me, Satan."The JST then mentions (along with Jesus the Christ) that this is more attacking the idea of not having to be the savior than Christ attacking Peter for being sympathetic.

Another thing I've learned here in the mission- that just like me pre-mission, literally no one here reads the epistles regularly. They have the first 4 gospels and Revelation down pat, and maybe the Acts if they are well versed, but to most, the Epistles of Paul are a dark hole where only Pastors and Clergy read. Yet, they are actually pretty good.

Also, the books of Isaiah, 1 and 2 Kings, and Jeremiah are actually SO nice to read. I know why the Isaiah Chapters are a hump for members, and why not even a speeding bullet can't go through Isaish, but if you take the time to think about his words, they are pretty dope. Sometimes a good guide is required, but is can make the chaptetrs a lot more interesting, instead of the 2 where Isaiah sends a angel to kill 185,000 Assyrians, and the other 1 chapter where he moves the sun 10 degrees back, to show that a king has 15 more years to live before he dies.

Look, what I'm here to say is JUST READ THE BIBLE WITH THE BOOK OF MORMON. THEY'RE BOTH AMAZING.

Anyway, back to the mission. The mission as a whole has been trying harder to get members to do their own missionary work, where each week they pray, read a couple verses, invite a couple people, and get at least 1 to come to the church and start receiving the missionaries in their houses. I do think it will work out, seeing as the mission president promised us that at least 1 baptism will happen a month if we put out full efforts into the new idea. Me and my comp are working with it hard, so hopefully in June we can see the fruits of our labor, all the way to the end of my time in this sector.

But, it does look like a lot of people are willing to start progressing. We found an old inactive member who wants to return, with his newborn baby and his nonmember wife, and there is another who feels the presence of his ancestors in his house, and I told him that it was his ancesotrs waiting to receive their ordinances in the temple after he has been baptized himself. He is willing to prepare himself, but thinks that a date is a little to early to set. But, I do think he can turn into a sure baptism. He works a weird schedule, though, so..... it will be a hurdle to cross.

A snack that I like here is one that dad mentioned to me in the Christmas call, that I'll send home in the package htat I promise I'll send. They are called Alfajores, or an Alfajor. Since poptarts don't exist here, except for 1 candy store in a mall close by, this is the closest replacement, but they are a little richer. Take the cookie covering of a poptart, but make it SUPER soft and crumbly, so much so that if you aren't careful it'll get crushed by gentle hand holding pressure, and in the middle put conensed milk, the super swwet caramel like kind. Then, make it a circle, cover it in chocolate, stick it in the fridge so it's cold, and viola. A simple, Chilean (and Argentinian, according to my comp) way to get obese in the matter of days.

But, sadly, I have actually NOT gainged weight on my mission, as far as I can tell. At the very least, my belt at the start of the mission was on the 2nd smallest belt hole before I left, and now I'm on the smallet. So, I may need to but a new belt if I get any skinnier. To all who knew me before the mission, I'm confused too. I thought I couldn't get any skinnier either. Maybe I should eat even worsse than I am or I should work less, and yet I don't think I'll be doing either of the 2.

This week has just been really spiritual as we are finally seeing the work of the past 2 weeks, and it literally feels like I've been lead to people who WANT to recieve the gospel. PMG tlaks about having faith that the Lord will put people prepared to receive the gospel in the way for you. With the last 2 comps, I don't think I fully understood it fully, but know I do. The Lord really does direct his work.

Also, here is a bunch of photos from the last few entries. Sorry for not uploading them earlier. 

Another thing I realized out here, but I don't think I've told you guys, is that I knew that some my friends had never read the Book of Mormon, but I don't think I ever fully realized it. I think it's because as a kid I knew more about the BoM than the Bible, especially the Old Testament. But, if I went up to my friends now and asked them about Alma, or Nephi and Laman and Lemuel, I'd just get a buch of blank stares. One of my old comps had an 80s church video called "How Rare a Posession,"talking about how the Book of Mormon realy is still an unknown book to many people, though it can be such a blessing.

Other than that, I can't really think of anything else to tell you all for this week, see you next with more stories!

Well, this week  been very great! I finally got the packages you guys sent me for Easter, right in time for my birthday. Since we get the packages from home in the same system that they deliver all the things to the missionaries, PBM (para bautizar más or to baptize more in english), I didn't just get my package that day. My companion took one look at our home and basically said älright, we got to change everything here."He asked for a ton of things this PBM round, so it almost felt like christmas. The older couple that drives the van saw my comp and I, and said ÿeah, half of this car is for you guys."I didn't even care about half the things in the house that he ordered. Like a toilet seat. We had one for the 2nd bathroom (for this house we have 2, it's nice) but it was broken and stuck under the sink. I guess it's just a testament to my willingness to live in filth. I don't make new filth, I have made myself be organized with my clothes, desk, and food and whatnot, but I came to the house and the toilet seat was already ripped off. I just didn't care enough to fix it on my own. My new comp is better than me in that regard. He also asked for a vacuum (I just used a broom), blankets (I don't know why, we have like 5, but they are too dirty apparently), and lots of pass out cards. That one we actually did need.

But anyway, that wasn't the favorite bit of PBM I had today. Instead, it was the packages from the family. I'm grateful for the family chart of Nana and Val. I finally have them all organized and straight in my mind. I don't know where I got the 9 kids of Nana number, but that is soo off. Whoops.

The candy is amazing. There is a candy shop in the nearest mall that sells some imported candy, but it is super expensive and out of my budget range. Plus, they only have Mike and Ikes, and not my favortie Hi-chews. I made sure this time around to make it last for a while instead of eating it all at once. The peeps though, I am sorry to say, have already gone to the endless pit of my stomach, though.

The flag, photos, stickers, and calendar of Oregon were great to have. I finally have something to show the latinos that come by and ask from which part of California where I'm from. My current comp, elder Olaiz, was pretty surprised about how Oregon has a 2 sided flag. I now have it hanging above my bed, but you can bet that I am not letting anyone write on it like other missionaries do. It's too precious to me to let that happen to it.

but, the best thing that I got that way was the ties from the family, and the notes you guys sent me. I did read them all in the right order, being Mom, Keegan, Aiden, and Dad. Why? because mom's is the most spiritually related, then Keegan talking about how great he is, then Aiden mentioning how he is better and that Keegan isn't the favorite son, and ending with dad mentioning the other parts of life going down back home. Also Aiden, the talk mentioning the Cheerios and Diapers, and later telling Dad to get there on time was none other than Elder Holland himself. I liked that talk too. I am super happy to have you guys as my family, there really could be none better than you all. 

Anyway, on with the week. This week we have had quite a few appointments with P__, and he is progressing really nicely. He esaily could be in the waters of baptism in 3 weeks. I would say 2 but there is a conference that get in the way of it all. Sadly, though, he is willing to stop drinking beer and wine, but he doesn't want to stop drinking his morning tea and coffee. We're still working on that, but he doesn't really have a reason aside from that to not be baptized, and has real intention to read the book (being already in 1 Nephi 14, the chapter that talks about how there are only 2 churches in the world- the church of the Lamb of God and the church of the devil. 

The other baptism, B_____, will have to wait nearly 3 weeks to be confirmed because this week is conference, then his dad has custody for a week. That's kind of bad, but I'm sure he'll do alright. He is an amazing kid, just like Keegan in some ways.

Anyway, Dad asked for a list for the report- here it is

October 9 to Nov 19, CCM with Elder McDaniel from American Fork, Utah, in Mexico

November 20 to February 10, with Elder Lewis from Mapleton, Utah, my trainer, in Barrio Carrión

Febraury 11 to March 24, with Elder Cuenca form Ecuador, in Barrio Carrión

March 25 to May 5, with Elder Untch from Kansas City, Missouri, in Barrio Conchalí 10

May 6 to June 16 or more, with Elder Olaiz from Argentina, in Barrio Conchalí 10.

Hopefully that's what you wanted. As for a list of facts, I guess here come some:

I have learned enough basic creole to teach the lessons, and to contact. My favorite words and phrases are (and google translate may help with pronounciation here)

Nou se misyonè legliz Jezikri pou sen dènye jou yo, ak nou genyen mensaj konsèynan levanjil la. Ekse ou gen anpil lafwa? Anfom, zanmi'm. máp anprann kreyòl pou liv yo. liv la ki m prefere se liv mòmon an, yon lòt temwayaj konsènan jezikri. Liv mòmon an te ekriti pou anpil pwofet yo, ak m konnen ki liv mòmon an se verite. Eske nou kapab vini lakay'w pou ensenye'w? Náp we, zanmi.

We are missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and we have a message about the gospel. Do you have a lot of faith? Awesome, my friend. I'm learning Creole by books. My favorite is the Book of Mormon, another testament of Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon was written by a lot of prophets, and I know the Book of Mormon is true. Can we come to your house and teach you? See you later, friend.

I like creole, not because it's a complex language (to be honest, it's the complete opposite), but because it is just a lot of fun to speak. It's a mix of French, Spanish, and English, with some words from Africa thrown in as well. Plus, it's a real easy language to learn.

Anyway, the call on Sunday was great. I loved how Keegan just kept on making faces the whole time at the camara, hoping that I'd make one back. I did like 3 times. If you guys want to call me, just call when I'm online. It'll change from time to time, but I think Olaiz and I are planning on doing it at around 1:30 our time, so he can call his family in Argentina, while I call yáll. If the computer I'm using has skype, I'll try to use it if that's what you want, otherwise I would prefer to use Google Hangouts, it sets up just as easy and is intergrated into the church email service.Additionally, it can work with multiple computers in a multicall, so when Ian's in Utah all 3 of us can be in the same video chat.

Also, Ian, the reason the call was a little early is because Chile implemented daylight savings this year, and if I had called at 6 or 6:30 your time, it would have been 10:30 my time, which is after curfew. Speaking of Daylight Savings in this country, the cell phones here are having issues with it, and they change back and forth between 2 hour times every 3 days or so. It also doesn't help that the chilean peoplee are kind of late to everything, so it gets to the point where people arrive to things one and a half hours late and they act like it's normal. We go knocking on doors at 1pm and people say Ï'm just getting up, why are you out so early?"

So dad served in the branch El Roble, so I'll guess I'll have to start looking into the books to see where it's limits were and who were the leaders at that time. I'm sure there's a record of it SOMEWHERE, but I don't know perfectly where it might be.

Actually, speaking of American Brands here in Chile, there are quite a few. You have the standard McDonald's, but also Wendy's, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Papa John's, Domino's Pizza, KFC, Subway,you name it. BUT, there is one difference. Only 1 of the restaurants have the US standard free refill. That is, the Carl's Jr, in 2 of the 5 malls I know of in the mission, though maybe a 3rd will come soon. So, of course, the gringos sometimes go to Plaza de Armas or my old sector just to get that free refill. Also, the idea of a public, free bathroom really doesn't exist here. Instead, you either have to pay 500 pesos (or like a dollar) or hold it to the house. Only 2 of the malls have free public bathrooms, and they are like hidden WAY in the back so no one finds them.

A recent law chile passed is that supermarkets can no longer giv e you bags for free anymore. If you want a bag, you have to pay for each one. So, as money-savvy missionaries, we bring reusable bags, and if we need plastic bags for the trash, we go to the feria (like a farmer's market but bigger and it sells all kinds of stuff. Think of the street market in Indiana Jones mixed with a garage sale). There, the good sellers usually still give you a bag, so we buy fruits and what not, for the bag just as much as for the fruit itself.

Also, because the Chilean peso is so poor, they no longer accept the 1 peso and 5 peso coins as legal tender. the 10 peso coin is the smallest unit from now on. So, everyone just kind of threw their 1 and 5 coins into the street, and I collect them if I find them. The change is pretty  recent, so there's still plenty to find. The coins themselves are smaller than my finger nail, and the 10 is about the size of a nickel.

I had a fun adventure with cooking with spaghetti. as I was putting in the salt into the broth (and looking back I'm not sure if I'm supposed to do that), the bag ripped and a LOT of salt came in. But, the spaghetti turned out alright, it wasn't to bad, so that was great. I have learned a couple of receipes here in the mission, but I still need to learn how to make sopaipillas, a native dish here. Well, it's techncally a native dish, but in reality it's just fried dough made of a pumpkin-like fruit? here and flour. It's actually really good with mayonaise.

This last week elder Olaiz and I did a lot of contacting. We've found quite a few people that seem interested in the gospel, so now we just need to get those first few appointments where we get through the door and actually teach them. At the very least, I can see that my contacting abilities have gotten better.

Anyway, that's all that I can really think of at the current time, I'll see if there is more I can share next week.

Love you! XOXOXOX

Thanks for the birthday wishes! I'll be in zone conference, but I'l make sure to treat myself.

My new comp, (yes, yet another, 3 in 3 changes) has this neat device that is a keyboard that records what you type. Then, you plug it in to the computer later and it writes it all really fast. So, basically, I can write a little more for the next 6 weeks at the least. So, I'll share a little bit more of what's been popping down here, especially I had a baptism this last week.

 B__ is a 10 year old  litle kid, and he's amazing. He has some real desire to do the best he can in the church. He's even preparing himself as hard as possible to receive the priesthood. It's good, because his parents are having a hard time. One is a less active member who doesn't want to go back to church until he is 100% worthy.  The mother of B__ wants to get baptized and join the church, but can't while she's not married, and they can't get married because he can't get divorced. At the least we hope that the baptism will get them into the habit of attending church and being as faithful as they can in the current situation.

This last change that just finished was a change full of learning about how different even other members of the church can be between each other. Elder Untch was amazing, a great teacher and user of his divine calling in regards to showing the power of god. for example, there was a lady he contacted that he promised that if she went to church that week, she would find a job the day after that would allow her to attend every week. She went, and that happened. Then, when she stopped coming and said to us Ï don't need god anymore, I have the work I need"he promised her that if she wouldn't attend that week, she would lose her job. It happened as well. He's also amazing at seeing the small miracles in things, like how when we plan for someone and they are there right as we arrive.

My new comp is Elder Olaiz, from Argentina. He comes from the South, near the border of Chile. He lives about as far away from the mission field as Elder Nissinan does from his home. He's a suprise because it feels like as if my friend E___ was an Argentinian and was currently serving a mission.  I still don't know everything about him, since I've literally spent maybe 1 day with him, but he seems like a dope dude. At the very least, it seems like he is a good worker and he does bomb at street contacting. We'll be doubling the number of contacts Untch and I did together, and I know because we hit a 50% growth on day 1 together. His type of humor is a very punny type of humor too, so I feel like this change is going to be great.

This week I've been reading in the beginning of the book of mormon again, and I spent the last personaly study reading a little in 1 Nephi 11 to 14. Reading over it, I have to wonder how long that vision must have taken, considering he seems basically all of Nephite history between Chirst and the end (though to be fair, it only is 4 Nephi to Moroni), but afterwords sees Columbus, the Revolutionary War, the Restoration, and the revealing of new scriptures via the Book of Mormon. God probably uses dreams because if he took them physically away they'd probably be gone for hours if not days. Not only that, but think about how a dude who lived 600 years before Christ saw guns. How weird would that be to him.

A neat spiritual experience this week was seeing how the gospel can literally change lives. We have an investigator named P__, who is addicted to alcohol, and has told us that he has tried very hard to get off it for many years, but he just hasn't been able to do it. So, we taught him how to pray, and told him that every time he feels he wants to drink, he will pray, and he will gain the strength to not drink and put it down or dump it out. He managed to keep himself sober for a week at this point, and he also went to church on his own, without too much of our help. If anything has truly been powerful, it must be the gospel, where it can sometimes make even that strong addiction disappear just like that.

And now, for a funny story for the week. We passed by the area we have in the sector called Dr. Yazigi (that's the name of the street), which is completely filled to the brim with Haitians. The thing is, sometimes I don't think some forms of logic exist in that place. Like how the last time we went, there was a group of around 6 Haitians working together to throw a washer machine out of the window. The thing is, they were doing this on the 3rd floor, and all of the doors in the place are wide enough to fit this washing machine they have. Why they didn't carry it down the stairs, I have no idea. But, they managed to get it out and pushed it away. But, since they had it tied up to help them lower it, it came swinging right back at the wall below them, then into the window of the floor below, knocking everything everywhere. It was a pretty funny sight. It's difficult to get a baptism there, since there is a lot of chastity issues and even the faithful ones aren't legally married.

Looking at my diary, it's hard to realize that I've filled it halfway up. The diary is only meant to last a year, but still. I've hit and passed the 1/4 mark already. I did burn a tie at Elder Untch's request, but I'm not sure if I'll ever burn a whole shirt. As for which tie I burned, I found one in the back of the closet that another missionary left at the end of his mission.

I'm sure the Returned Missionaries from South America know this, but I've gotten hooked on the agenda-making here. As missionaries, the church provides us with an agenda per change, so 1 every 6 weeks. The thing is, the covers are kind of flimsy, so people take the pass along card or whatnot to stiffen them, and then put a picture on top to make it look nice. I have gotten hooked on it, and I feel like mom in her card-making room, doing crafts for other missionaries when I have that little bit of free time at the start or end of a day.  I'll usually get a funny caption, add a scripture that relates, and tape it all over to make it look nice. I can definitely see my creativity getting better as I now find random images and think "how can I make this a good agenda cover."

One thing I've learned here in the field is how to incentivize myself. there is a sushi place that does delivery nearby our house. So, when I and my comp make 30 contacts together for a whole week, we get sushi on Friday, because that's when they have a deal of 60 pieces for 11,000 pesos, or about 16 dollars. I don't know if that's expensive for the states or not, but it's the cheapest here for over 50 pieces.

Also, for the last few pdays, I've been reading Saints- a History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Since my comps talk a lot with there families and call every week, I sometimes have extra time after I've written all of my letters. So, I browse the Church websites, downloading videos of the church, reading the Joseph Smith Papers (of which I understand 0%), or whatnot. But recently, I've been hooked on Saints. I'm currently on Chapter 22 or so, when the Saints first get thrown out of Missouri. It's a pretty good book, and I learned a lot of things I didn't know beforehand. For example, how during a special meeting in the Kirkland Temple, the Acts 2 decending of the Spirit like a fire and the speaking of tongues happened again, giving them the power from on high mentioned in the D&C sections preceeding the dedication.

Alright, I have alittle bit more time, so I'll talk about chilean things that were weird to me when I started but now I don't really notice. They still use horses here on occasion, like in the central plaza areas the police have a calvary group of like 2 or 3 officers on horseback.

A lot of people want to know english, so they occasionally yell "Hello! How are you?"to me, to which I always reply Ï am fine, and you?"They always say "very good, very good."It's kind of funny to me, because that was about my ability with spanish when I left the CCM, os Ican't really fault them for literally not knowing anything else in English.

When people finally realized that it isn't pronounced "Helders"and instead is Ëlders,"and that it's a title and not our first names, they always ask for what my first name is. I usually go with Malcolm, but to the occasional drunk who won't even remember the conversation, I sometimes say that my named is Aetheldred or some other weird Anglo-Saxon name. They can't even pronounce Malcolm right, so seeing them try to say Aetheldred in a drunken slur is kind of funny. I don't think I've met a single missionary here that likes giving out their first name. I barely knew my comp's first name, and he's already left for home in Ecuador (that's my 2nd comp, Elder Cuenca).

No one here get up until after 12 oçlock, and the grandmas not until 2 or so. So, here is me, a gringo, walking about at 11ish and wondering where all the people are. We usually have to take all of our studies in the morning because no one is out that early except for us and the occasional Jehovah's Witness group.

Actually, speaking of the Jehovah's Witnesses, I had no idea how popular they were here in Chile. They might have more Salones del Reino de los Testigos de Jehová (that's the spanish name, I don't know what it is in English because I've never seen one) than Chapels for the true church. So, on occasion, we'll run into their proselyting groups. It's interesting what they believe, but I think it's more because of the fact that I hear more about their doctrine through the missionary grapevine than from themselves.

A native dish here is called Casuela. Imagine a half of a chicken in a broth with undercooked vegetables, including either a whole potato or a corncob. Then, to eat it, they just give you a spoon. A spoon to eat a half of a chicken, bones and all. Then, for dessert, they give you half of a watermelon to eat with another spoon. I absolutely love both of them, though. On the occasional cold day, the broth can really warm you up, and the lots of food and fruit keeps me going, usually to the next lunch the day after. I don't need to spend a lot of money on food because the members are so genereous. They are willing to do whatever we need to. I'm 100% sure they are better member missionaries than I was.

Anyway, Olaiz is asking for this back, so here is where I'll end it for now. Hopefully I'll write more next week if I have more time!

Elder MacGregor

XOXOXOXOXOXOX